Foxglove  (Digitalis purpurea)

Biennial: A plant that lives for two years and typically flowers only in the second year.
Perennial: plants that live for at least three seasons; after an initial period they produce flowers once a year.
Raceme: an inflorescence where the individual flowers all have distinct stalks. (See http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ksheets/pdfs/flower.pdf for a fact sheet on flower structure).

1. National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (Feb 2003):
   http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn
   
2. Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. (1987) Flora of the British Isles. 3rd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
   
3. Preston, C.D., Pearman, D.A. & Dines, T.D. (2002) The New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
   
4. Mabey, R. (1996) Flora Britannica. Sinclair-Stevenson, London.
   
5. Press, B. & Gibbons, B (1993) Photographic field guide to wild flowers of Britain and Europe. New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd, London.
   
6. Paul May (1996) University of Bristol School of Chemistry. (Feb 2003):
   http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/digitalis/digitalis.htm